1. Statement of the Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate generally to the field of micro electromechanical system (MEMS) devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technology progresses, clock speeds of modern electronic devices continue to increase, resulting in a greater amount of heat being produced by device components. Additionally, efforts are currently under way to adapt very small fuel cells, called microcells, into portable electronic devices. For example, it is anticipated that microcells soon will be used for powering laptop computers and cell phones. Microcells generate heat, though, thus adding to the total amount of heat that will be generated by such electronic devices. Meanwhile, circuit geometries and device packaging continue to shrink. Hence, modern circuit designers face many design challenges concerning thermal management.
Fans are a frequently used solution to dissipate heat within electronic devices. However, such fans tend to be rather bulky, occupying valuable space within the devices. Moreover, the fans often prove to be less than reliable, sometimes failing prior to any other device components. In some instances, the loss of heat dissipation resulting from the failure of a fan actually causes other device components to overheat and fail. Accordingly, a small, yet reliable thermal management solution is needed to dissipate heat in modern electronic devices.